When it comes to shooting abroad, nothing beats working with a local crew who understands the ins and outs of shooting in their own backyard. From Japan to the Outback, hiring a local Director of Photography not only can provide insight to running a local production, but can provide beautiful and authentic shots that up production quality and set your video apart from the rest.

The below video is an excellent example of cinematic B-Roll shot abroad. Instead of just capturing the typical famous locations, this DP went right to the heart of the city and was able to convey an authentic and impactful version of the culture. Beautiful and stunning, this piece captures what it feels like to be in this city and among its people.

While the DP has the ability to create the texture and tone of your video project, there are some behind the scenes positions that are incredibly important when shooting abroad. A must have crew member is definitely the Fixer. The Fixer is an invaluable local who helps with anything from transportation, hotel accommodations and meals, to acquiring local permits, scheduling and navigating the city. You can call them Production Coordinators and Producers rolled into one.

Additionally, it’s always helpful to hire a translator, a few camera assistants and production assistants to keep your shoot moving as smoothly as possible.

Crew Connection has talented, expert crews across the world who can provide original and gripping content for any type of video project. For your next shoot, consider hiring a local crew in one of these exotic locales:

“I feel empowered when I’m holding a camera,” Susu Hauser, adventurer, world-traveler, filmmaker, TV industry veteran, wife and cinematographer says with a gleam of pride in her eye. And she should feel proud. As one of the few female camera operators in the docu-reality TV world she’s a groundbreaking trailblazer paving the way for more women to emerge in this extremely male dominated field.

Despite her long list of credits and her massive accomplishments around the world (working Deadliest Catch in Alaska to trekking Ethiopia with a camera) she is often still treated as the sidekick or “little woman” next to men in her industry. Susu doesn’t complain about it. She doesn’t play the victim or pout, instead she straps on her hiking boots, slings a camera over her shoulder and proceeds to her next adventure, proving with every impressive credit that the camera knows no gender. If you’re good, you’re good. And she’s good.

These are her thoughts in her own words about her journey as a woman behind the camera.

Empowerment through Cinematography

“Life begins at the end of your comfort zone” – a wise person once said, and it couldn’t be more true of my craft. As a female cinematographer, I feel an adrenaline rush with every new environment I delve into, every walk of life I engage with, and every new adventure I embark on. The camera has been my tool to live life to the fullest – whether I am coasting down 10,000 ft in a Piper cub with the engine cut out, or trouncing through the “emerald triangle” of Northern California in full camo, I have challenged my physical and mental body to greet the unknown. There is fear, freedom and empowerment that comes with all this.

Life Behind the Camera

I wrote an essay in highschool about my desire to be a National Geographic photographer “when I grew up”. Never did I think that 10 years later, I would be doing just that…

I have since been fortunate enough to have kissed the Blarney stone, visited the lost city of Pompeii, enjoyed the thermal baths of Budapest, swam from island to island in the Adriatic sea, snorkeled the Great Barrier Reef, sky dove over Fox Glacier in New Zealand, polished my Thai cooking in Chiang Mai, watched the sun rise over the temples of Angkor Wat, kayaked the Mekong… (and the list goes on…). With every new excursion and adventure, I have honed my photography skills. So you can see, travel, adventure, and photography are my lifeblood. I have a thirst for diverse cultures and exotic lands. Cinematography has enabled me to marry all these passions, and I am beyond grateful for that.

A Woman’s Rise up a Male Ladder

Truthfully, my rise up the ladder in this industry was slow, steady and incremental. On the one hand, it was a bummer seeing my male counterparts wiz by me in the job positions and titles when I knew we had the same work ethic, talent and drive… It seemed as though there was a tendency to shy away from putting females in the field unless they were fulfilling positions as coordinators, managers, and associate producers.

On the other hand, I gained experience in every job title leading me to eventually running my own production company with my husband, The Invisible Lens. These rungs on the ladder included – Post and production PA, Field and Post Coordinator, Production Manager, Associate Producer, Assistant Camera, Producer, and Camera Operator.

Advice for Women Up and Comers

Be persistent. I ventured out with countless male camera operators before getting my hands on the camera. Observe them, soak them for knowledge, be indispensable, and if they are confident enough within their own craft they will help you learn the ropes. It’s one thing to get an education from a film school, it’s an entirely other thing to be gaining practical knowledge in the field.

Know your thresholds, be safe, and speak up when things don’t feel right.

A Message to the Industry

My message to the industry on behalf of us few female camera operators is – do not underestimate us. I may be only 5’5’’(on a good day!), but I can trounce through the woods with a Sony F800 on my shoulder just like the rest of them. – And I may even be smiling while I do it.

Filming on National Geographic’s Wild Justice in northern California

To experience Susu’s work and learn about her upcoming documentary to empower women through the Fair Trade Market please visit susuhauser.com

If you’re in the video production industry, there is only one place you want to be when spring hits: Vegas! No, not just for the debauchery, but for the unveiling of ground-breaking gear that revolutionizes the way we do business. Spring means NAB.

But, what really stood out at the 2018 NAB Show?

Every year we want to stay on top of the latest gadgets and upgrades that make our shoots more efficient and our footage stunning. While everything revealed at the NAB Show is pretty exciting, the product that caught my attention this year was the Redrock Mirco Digiboom. Not only is the Digiboom hard to say without smiling, it is all too easy to envision its practical use and how it serves to improve production quality.

Sure, Sony showcased their new FS5 II with color science technology, and Blackmagic has a nifty pocket camera, but the Digiboom is the real game changer for everyday content. While at first glance it simply looks like a fancy boom pole, it’s actually a multi-purposed camera rig that merges jib, drone and steadicam technology into one pint-sized, easy to maneuver, handheld piece of magic.

Probably the most exciting aspect of the Digiboom is its ability to capture innovative 4k angles we’ve never seen before. Its flexible rig, 11 feet of extension and smooth stabilization allow the camera to move around and underneath objects. This all makes for spontaneous creativity, fast-paced action shots and more engaging interviews.

While other gear may have been equally mind-blowing at this year’s NAB Show, a product like the Digiboom has a real practical impact on our crews. Imagine the production value you can easily add to your corporate videos, commercials, and live events – with much less hassle and smaller cost. I must say, this new product is a bet that will pay off in happier clients and bigger profits.

Designed for the master camera operator, Digiboom is an essential tool to help our camera crews stand out among competitors and produce the best product possible. Luckily, what happens in Vegas isn’t staying in Vegas this time. You can pre-order your very own Digiboom now on the Redrock Micro website for a mere $500. Jackpot!

About Crew Connection

Crew Connection puts a suite of marketing tools at your fingertips. Get your demo reels, stills, gear, awards, and more in front of the biggest clients all over the world—for free. At Crew Connection we pay video and post production providers within 30 days of receiving your invoice so your work and your life are never interrupted. Need live assistance or want to add quality jobs to your pipeline? Our crew coordinators are on call around the clock. Sign in to Crew Connection, call 303-526-4900, or email info@crewconnection.com.

Our crews are in a class of their own. To become our crews at all, they go through a strict vetting process. Once they’re a part of our online database of international crews and post production teams, clients can be assured they’re dealing with true professionals. And according to our clients, they’re also just plain delightful to work with. We interviewed Kelly O’Neill, production manager for one of our true standouts—Video Dimensions—to learn more about this month’s featured crew.

Just like our clients, we love working with Video Dimensions. Having a dedicated staff member available for clients means Video Dimensions is able to provide a high level of service from the initial contact through the shoot itself. O’Neill is always on the ball and able to respond to client needs almost immediately—a huge plus in the fast-paced video world.

Crew Connection: What’s your company’s story?

Kelly O’Neill: After being a stringer for news and working in a few other avenues, Steve Liebowitz started Video Dimensions in 2005. When I started in 2008, we shared an office and had all the equipment in one room. We’ve grown steadily since then and now have two studios, plus a room for gear, a makeup room, and more. And everyone has their own offices!

E! News has been our biggest client since the company’s early days—we cover their movie premieres and celebrity interviews. They’re still our bread and butter, but now we also shoot a lot of corporate interviews, multi-camera shoots, live events and more.

CC: What sets you apart among the competitive New York set?

KO: We have the biggest staff. In addition to having a dedicated staff member for client needs, we also have two people dedicated to taking care of gear, a full-time editor, and three vehicles available to send out crews. This sets us apart from owner-operated situations. Our infrastructure and staff allow us to get things done quickly and smoothly.

CC: What are some interesting shoots you’ve done recently?

KO: We recently did a very complicated Facebook Live shoot with Pampers. It was a live, 4-hour webcast moving between both studios with the singer Ne-Yo and other prominent bloggers. It required a massive coordinated effort and just speaks to our level of organization.

We also got to visit the granddaughter of the artist who created Wonder Woman. We got to tour her house, which is now a Wonder Woman museum. It was just so unique and exciting.

CC: What gear do you use most often?

KO: It’s really important for us to upgrade our lighting, audio mixers, and other gear often. We just added a third Sony FS7 because that camera is going out so much. We also have some new Prime Lenses, a C300 Mark 2s, and a Panasonic VariCam 35 (which is the kind of camera Orange is the New Black is shot on). Basically, we’re always upgrading to new equipment.

We use our one-by-one bi-color LED lights a lot because they make setting up for interviews simpler, especially when we’re on a short timeline or don’t have a lot of space.

The bottom line

O’Neill says Video Dimensions is a “soup-to-nuts company.” They have producers, editors, writers, videographers…everything…and can put a whole production together within reasonable budgets.

Video Dimensions Inc. is a full service production and post-production company. Boasting the ability to shoot on location or in our studios, VDI can equip your single or multi-camera productions with either union or non-union crews. We can see your project through from start to finish with producers, makeup artists, grips, gaffers, teleprompting and editing in addition to our first-rate video and audio crews.

Crew Connection puts a world of video and post production service providers at your fingertips. In just a few clicks you can search, chat with, and book vetted crews local to your shoot—all on your own schedule. Rely onCrew Connection’s team of media experts to organize the crews and gear you need for multi-day and multi-location video projects anywhere in the world. Our professional crew coordinators are on call around the clock if you ever need live assistance. Sign up onCrewConnection.com, call us at 303-526-4900, or shoot us an email at info@crewconnection.com.

Our worldwide video crews are topnotch. We know because we personally vet each one before adding them to our online database of international crews. Not only are they the cream of the crop in their trades, but according to our clients, they are also just plain delightful to work with. This month’s featured crew is Urban Samurai Creative and we interviewed Yuki Uemura, the company’s founder and principal. One of Uemura’s standout traits is that his business and marketing backgrounds complement his mad skills behind the camera.

We love working with Yuki Uemura for the same reasons our clients do. He is incredibly talented, genuinely gregarious, and a superbly hard worker who is always willing to go that extra mile. He also has tons of resources to make the best possible projects. Most importantly: Clients really love working with him.

Crew Connection: What’s your story?

Yuki Uemura: I wanted to do film in school but my parents wouldn’t pay for my education that way so I ended up with a business marketing degree. Interestingly enough, it’s served me well in my film pursuits as well (thanks, Mom and Dad!).

When I was about to graduate, I applied for a marketing internship but something got mixed up and I ended up in the creative department. I told my boss that even though I didn’t know anything about camera or audio, I could connect the creative side to the business side so they could get more sales. It was around 2007—just as the market was going downhill—so they were interested. My boss told me to learn the camera by the end of the day and the editing software they used (AVID) by the end of the week. So I reviewed the manual for the camera and shadowed the editor for the rest of the week. By the end of that time, my boss said I was basically in the same place as the other graduates. And with that, my career in the industry began.

I joined Hammertime (an MC Hammer reality show) as a PA but when the DP saw me doing camera stuff, he switched me to AC the very next day. From there, I went to grip, then to audio, and then to camera. I spent four years traveling across the country (all 50 states!) and working in various jobs (like DP and audio supervisor) with NatGeo, Travel Channel, CBS, Oxygen, Anthony Bourdain, Katie Couric, and so many more.

My heart is in the San Francisco Bay area though, so in 2013, I started marketing, meeting people, and getting local jobs. Now I work with some of the major companies in the area—Facebook, Google, Apple, Intuit, etc.

CC: What sets you apart?

YU: So this is where that business marketing degree comes in handy. I learned to talk to people on the business side as well as the broadcasting side of things and I learned to bring a story to life. My marketing experience gave me an understanding for branding that I take into all my jobs. Some DPs only care about how good the footage looks, but if your audience can’t connect with what they’re seeing, what does it matter how beautiful it is? I ask clients what they want to translate to the audience and then do my best to capture that in the filming, too.

In addition to branding, I focus on customer service. For example, I once showed up on a set in the San Francisco Bay area to work and within the first two hours, they said, “What are you doing tomorrow? Could you go to Utah for three days?”

I said yes. We wrapped at 10:00 that night and I went home, packed up, and left for the airport at 5:00 the next morning. I’ll do my best to do whatever a client needs.

As part of both branding and customer service, I focus on communicating with all my clients in advance to get as much info as possible. I believe that pre-production is a very important part of doing a job well. It helps us to understand the vision our client is going for so we can all be on the same page and achieve great video.

CC: What are you most proud of?

YU: Working as a audio supervisor on Anthony Bourdain’s show was a highlight because I watch the show all the time.

I’m also proud of the work we do with Intuit on short, cinematic documentaries on small business stories. They brought me in as DP, audio mixer, gaffer, and grip. We followed a music composer and a painter as a part of their #MorePower2You campaign. It’s been fun.

CC: What gear do you use most often?

YU: I shoot with the Sony FS7, Canon C300, Sony F5, F55, Black Magic as well as the old broadcast cameras like the Sony F900 and the 5D MK II. That last one is a dinosaur that some people still want to use because they like the style (and budget!).

CC: What are some of your favorite tools and why?

YU:I like to use a dana dolly because it creates the slow movement combined with slow motion that is so popular right now. I think slow movements help bring the story to life rather than distracting like quick movements sometimes can. This slider allows very slow push-ins and sliding motions to get people into the scene. It creates a unique mood, which is especially nice for documentaries.

I feel audio is very important. If you can’t hear it, you can’t tell the story. I use a Sound Device 788t, Lectrosonic SMQV and 411s, Sanken COS 11 Lav, and Sanken CS3E boom. It may seem weird coming from a DP, but we make sure on every shoot that audio is pristine. Early in my career, an Executive Producer told me, “When your camera work is screwed up, people say it’s artistic. When you can’t hear the audio, you don’t have a show.”

The bottom line

Yuki Uemura is a class act and has the experience, customer loyalty, and awards to show for it. Click here to book Yuki Uemura for your next video production project.

Crew Connection puts a world of video service providers at your fingertips. In just a few clicks you can search, chat with, and book vetted crews local to your shoot—all on your own schedule. Rely on Crew Connection’s team of media experts to organize the crews and gear you need for multi-day and multi-location video projects anywhere in the world. Our crew coordinators are on call around the clock if you ever need live assistance. Visit CrewConnection.com, call us at 303-526-4900, or shoot us an email at info@crewconnection.com.

Contract work is uncertain: Here’s how to make sure you get paid every timehttps://crewconnection.com/wp-content/uploads/contract-work-Crew-Connection-crews.jpg56163744Heidi McLeanHeidi McLeanhttps://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/?s=96&d=mm&r=gAugust 14, 2017August 14, 2017

The struggle is real. Contract work often means gambling with each new client and gig. While you might get paid half up front, you usually work without any guarantee—billing upon completion. That means a lot of uncertainty—especially for small video crews and owner/operators who rely on each project and its corresponding cash flow to pay bills, buy equipment, and stay in operation.

For their part, clients may have a net 90 invoicing policy, a small accounting department, or an unstable financial situation. Often, you’re the one at risk if any of those operations hits a snag. So you get a signed contract, do your best work, and hope your client follows through on their end of the deal.

The good news is that there is an alternative: You don’t have to rely on a handshake and a roll of the dice.

Three ways Crew Connection brings payment security to contract work

Problem one: Many companies, especially the big ones, have 90 day payment terms, meaning you could wait an extra 60 days to have that cash in hand.

Solution one: Crew Connection guarantees payment for crews in 30 days regardless of the client terms.

Problem two: Onboarding paperwork slows down the process of working with new clients. Setting up contract and payment terms takes valuable time and often, different companies have different expectations for how and when they want to receive invoices.

Solution two: Crews invoice the same way every time (which happens to be very easy, by the way) regardless of who the shoot is for. Crew Connection takes care of the paperwork.

Problem three: Unfortunately, small companies without internal legal teams often get paid last or not at all when there’s a dispute or a client hits financial troubles. Some clients never pay. Who wants to waste time and money pursuing payment for previous work when you have new work to get to?

The bottom line

Crews often bring new clients to us to make sure they get paid quickly even on their first project together. It benefits clients, too. We built our online database to make finding a crew fast and easy for clients and to make getting paid for contract work fast and easy for crews. Beyond that, it makes communication and record-keeping a breeze. It’s a win-win for both parties. We take the gambling out of contractor pay so crews can do great work, get paid quickly, and move on. Save the gambling for Vegas, baby!

About Crew Connection

Crew Connection puts a suite of marketing tools at your fingertips. Get your demo reels, stills, gear, awards, and more in front of the biggest clients all over the world—for free. At Crew Connection we pay video and post production providers within 30 days of receiving your invoice so your work and your life are never interrupted. Need live assistance or want to add quality jobs to your pipeline? Our crew coordinators are on call around the clock. Sign in to Crew Connection, call 303-526-4900, or email info@crewconnection.com.

Invoicing day: The day independent contractors love to hate. For any production crew without a standalone accounting department, invoicing simultaneously keeps businesses afloat (hello cash flow!) and keeps you away from the work you got into the business for in the first place. It doesn’t have to be so painful, though! Like everything on Crew Connection’s online platform, invoicing is easy and streamlined.

Here are some best practices to help you simplify invoicing and get paid quickly.

The invoicing process in a nutshell

Here are some simple but important keys to uploading your invoice to Crew Connection:

Wait until the day after the shoot end date to upload your invoice.

Click the “Upload a New Invoice” button (bottom left).

Be sure to export a PDF file (no larger than 2MB) from your system of choice.

When will I be paid?

We pay within 30 days of the day you upload your invoice (not the end of the shoot date) and we always initiate payments on Wednesdays. The later you upload your invoice and the more revisions you have to make in order to finalize it, the longer it will take after wrap to get paid. It behooves you to make the invoice a priority the day after you finish the shoot and to make sure you avoid revisions.

What causes rejections?

Nobody likes to be rejected. It’s usually just a matter of clearing up some confusion, but here are the two most common reasons we have to kick back invoices:

There are discrepancies between the estimate and the invoice (for instance, new line items without explanations/notes, or unexpected costs such as parking and meals).

There are mistakes—the wrong date, client name, or location, for example.

How can I prevent confusion on my invoice?

Once a client approves your estimate, it becomes a project. Basing your invoice on your project keeps everything consistent. That means we’ll likely have fewer questions for you and more time to cut your check. (Need a refresher on creating an estimate? Click here.)

Here’s what we mean by consistency:

Make your invoice look as much like the estimate as possible. If you bid the project as a package, don’t submit an itemized invoice. On the flip side, if you break down costs such as camera operator, labor, gear, audio, etc., do so on both your estimate and your invoice. Either way, pick your approach and stick with it.

Be sure to include your preliminary total, less our finder’s fee, and your net on every invoice. Not sure what we take commission on? Get the scoop here.

Provide proof of purchase. Spent some extra cash on the job? Include those lunch, parking, and other receipts as pages of your invoice or as separate “invoices” for the same project. Make a habit of including meal and parking receipts. Vague extra costs make clients nervous, while clear communication makes them feel more comfortable.

When anything doesn’t line up, we have to go back to the production crew and find out what changed. We notify you via email and give you a chance to fix it. That said, it still delays the whole process (and often the payment). It will just be a quicker and smoother process if you take your time and do it right up front.

The bottom line

We built our online database to make getting paid fast and easy already, and these little tips will set you up for success from your very first estimate. Uploading your invoice on Crew Connection is the fastest way to get it in front of our crew coordinators and get you paid. It’s easy. Promise.

About Crew Connection

Crew Connection puts a suite of marketing tools at your fingertips. Get your demo reels, stills, gear, awards, and more in front of the biggest clients all over the world—for free. At Crew Connection we pay video and post production providers within 30 days of receiving your invoice so your work and your life are never interrupted. Need live assistance or want to add quality jobs to your pipeline? Our crew coordinators are on call around the clock. Sign in to Crew Connection, call 303-526-4900, or email info@crewconnection.com.

Whether they’re pros at filming, post-production, stills, drone photography, or a little bit of everything—our crews are the bee’s knees. We know that for a fact because our team personally vets every single one of them before adding them to our global crewing database.

We thought it was about time to toot some of their horns, starting with Scott Stewart and Resolution Post.

We love working with Resolution for the same reasons our clients do:

1) They are flexible and offer a wide range of production services—from green screen shooting to editing and graphics work.

2) They’ve fully adopted our online platform which allows them to seamlessly work with us and our clients.

For the scoop on what makes Resolution such rockstars we talked with Scott Stewart, Resolution Post’s Creative Director and President, and a true gem in the industry. He’s been with the company for over 25 years and does everything from filming to post production; which includes color correction, editing, graphics animation, After Effects, and Cinema 4D worlds.

Crew Connection: What sets you apart?

Scott Stewart: We can do everything in house. After we do the shoot, we take it back into the suite, do the creative aspects, and deliver the final product. That means we can accommodate just about any situation. One of the benefits to clients is that you save time in post when the guy shooting the project also edits it.

CC: What gear do you offer and what are your specialties?

SS: I can shoot with all the cameras. I learn the technology when it comes out. Rather than investing in several different cameras and being limited to those, I invest in the lenses and lights so I can accommodate different clients who want different packages. It’s a smooth transition from camera to camera because I just need to get the settings right for the environment.

CC: What are some interesting and challenging projects you’ve worked on recently?

SS: We had a client ask us to create a galaxy for them. Our Art Director, who can build a model in the 3D world, dug into his tool bag and figured out how to do it.

We also work with professional athletes who don’t have a lot of time. That means we have to pull off perfection in less than five minutes. We charge batteries, clear audio cards, and do all camera checks ahead of time so we can stay in front of everything and make it work.

One of the coolest jobs we’ve done recently is editing a three-episode run of FIFAKING (also known as Chad Johnson…also known as Ocho Cinco).

CC: What are your favorite tools and why?

SS: My new favorite tool is the GH5—Panasonic DSLR. It shoots 4K 422 uncompressed footage to a Ninja Inferno monitor/recorder. It’s a lightweight package that works with Cine DS Rokinon lenses. I also have a cool mixer (Zoom H6) right on the camera so we can cut out the sound person for smaller shoots.

All of that means we can match our camera packages to the budget and client while still offering excellent quality. We can do a nice corporate shoot or a green screen shoot without using a RED. The truth is that if you put footage from a RED Dragon next to a GH5, very few people can tell the difference—especially on the web.

And for bigger broadcast jobs, we can still use a RED, Alexa, or Sony F5 and hire larger crews to support the scope of the project.

CC: Why do clients like working with you?

SS: We focus on customer service and go above and beyond for every job. If we’re not done with a project at 5 p.m. and it’s due the next morning, we’ll stay until 3 a.m. to see it through. If I get an email at 9 p.m. that the client needs the video in a different format, then I send it to them from home. It’s all about relationships.

The bottom line

Resolution Post and JSS Productions are broadcast, design, and acquisition specialists with a host of Fortune 500 clients and government agencies. They specialize in creating visual content for any screen. Click here to book Resolution for your next high-end corporate piece, marketing project, awards show, commercial, promo, or multimedia experience.

About JSS Productions/Resolution Post

Resolution is a video, film, and multimedia broadcast design and digital agency based out of the Washington, D.C. metro area. Since its creation in 1989, Resolution has produced films, videos, and multimedia for some of the top fortune 500 companies of the world and government agencies. We are most proud of the fact that we have established long-term relationships with our customers and have earned their respect as strategic communications partners. The majority of our work consists of creating high-end corporate imaging, marketing, awards shows, commercials, promos, special effects, training videos and multimedia experiences. We help our customers define their business and communications objectives and we study hard to understand the product and what the audience needs to know.

About Crew Connection

Crew Connection puts a world of video service providers at your fingertips. In just a few clicks you can search, chat with, and book vetted crews local to your shoot—all on your own schedule. Rely on Crew Connection’s team of media experts to organize the crews and gear you need for multi-day and multi-location video projects anywhere in the world. Our crew coordinators are on call around the clock if you ever need live assistance. Visit CrewConnection.com, call us at 303-526-4900, or shoot us an email at info@crewconnection.com.

Crew Connection simplifies prospecting in a big way. It’s the crewing service that makes life easy for both clients and crews. Our crews tell us that one of the biggest perks of using Crew Connection is that they get more legitimate leads (read: leads that turn into projects that turn into cash). Here’s what that means for our crews:

1. High-quality leads come looking for you

Crew Connection alleviates some of our crews’ biggest prospecting issues. As a crew, every potential new client is inherently a gamble. You don’t start the project with the guarantee that they’ll pay on time—or at all. You don’t know if you’ll spend hours on their RFP only to have it go unseen. But Crew Connectionguarantees Net 30, takes the grunt work out of submitting proposals, and provides user-friendly sorting options that mean you only get requests for jobs you are a good fit for.

2. Bids turn into projects

When clients get better fits, crews get better leads. Crew Connection’s searching and booking tool makes it easy for clients to find the crews that are the right fit for their job. They also know they’re getting the best (that’s you!) so they feel more comfortable booking. One crew told us that they had a “100 percent success rate with leads actualizing.” You read that right—100 percent!

3. Get the best clients and projects without the hassle

One of the biggest challenges for crews and clients alike is communication. Our online database centralizes details and simplifies communications. You can view and manage every detail of a shoot from one central place—gear, budget, and communications included. It’s all simple and centralized, easy, and fast on Crew Connection.

Ready to book more projects?

Crew Connection puts a suite of marketing tools at your fingertips. Get your demo reels, stills, gear, awards, and more in front of the biggest clients all over the world—for free. At Crew Connection we pay video and post production providers within 30 days of receiving your invoice so your work and your life are never interrupted. Need live assistance or want to add quality jobs to your pipeline? Our crew coordinators are on call around the clock. Sign Up on Crew Connection, call 303-526-4900, or email info@crewconnection.com.

Crew Connection simplifies series shoots—both in the US and internationally. Here are two reasons to rely on Crew Connection to organize your multi-day and multi-location video projects:

1. Get the best crews without the hassle

Peace of mind can be hard to come by when you’re working with a new crew, especially when they’re far away. Book multiple shoots in multiple locations and the trouble only compounds. You want to be sure you hire someone who gets you and your vision. Crew Connection partners with only the best crews both in the US and internationally and connects you directly with highly-qualified video production crews. No matter how many shoots you’re booking and in how many locations, you know you’re getting the very best. Let Crew Connection turn crewing into one of the simplest parts of your job.

2. Improve communication

Crew Connection’s online database is more than an excellent searching and booking tool. It’s also a great way to centralize details and simplify communications. One of the biggest challenges of any intricate, multi-layered project is communication. With our database, you can view and manage every detail of a shoot from one central place—gear, budget, and communications included. Want to re-book a crew and find out what you paid for a similar job last time? It’s simple and centralized. Want to book 6 shoots in 6 locations in one sitting? It’s easy and fast on Crew Connection.

The best part is if you simply don’t have time to plan a detailed multi-day and multi-location video project, our staff is available 24/7 to do it for you. Connect with our team of crew coordinators anytime at 303-526-4900, or info@crewconnection.com.

The bottom line

Video productions are rife with opportunities for things to go wrong. Save your time and brainpower for something other than crewing by letting us take care of organizing all your multi-day and multi-location video projects. You already have enough on your plate.

Crew Connection puts a world of video service providers at your fingertips. In just a few clicks you can search, chat with, and book vetted crews local to your shoot—all on your own schedule. Rely on Crew Connection’s team of media experts to organize the crews and gear you need for multi-day and multi-location video projects anywhere in the world. Our crew coordinators are on call around the clock if you ever need live assistance. Visit CrewConnection.com, call us at 303-526-4900, or shoot us an email at info@crewconnection.com.